Illegal immigrants saved from dinghy
Rescue helicopters and coast guard vessels pulled 28 illegal immigrants and two Greek people-smugglers out of the sea off the islet of Psara after their inflatable dinghy began to sink in the area on Saturday morning. No other people were believed to be on board the vessel that had left for Greece from the Turkish port of Cesme. It went down about five miles north of Psara, an islet to the west of Chios in the central Aegean. The two Greeks, Costas Fafoutis, 35, and Vassilis Karadzias, 50, will be charged with transporting illegal immigrants. The 28 immigrants, all men from Pakistan, Palestine and Afghanistan, were taken to Chios, where five were hospitalized with minor injuries. Meanwhile, coast guard patrols off Chios yesterday arrested three Afghan nationals who had arrived in a toy inflatable dinghy.
